Story/Plot:
Lu Anran was given a second life after encountering an annihilation of her entire clan and those who are close to her done by her husband... or was it really him? There are plot twists, revenge, calculation and just when you think she has the upper hand, she’s back to square one.
I love the concept but few of the executions are quite questionable that makes
me wonder the real purpose of their tug-of-war.

Acting: Xing Fei has showed more range and versatility in this drama. She only needs to polish the intensity of her expressions in some scenes but overall, she did amazingly well especially in her emotional scenes. As for Zhai Zilu, this is my first drama of him, as a newcomer, he’s quite natural in most of his scenes(whether he’s being gentle, suspicious or mad)and just need to smoothen his emotional scenes. Jing Chao, very much convinced by his performance, was also great as Mu Ze. I cannot imagine anyone other than them to act their given roles. They gave birth to each character with their own uniqueness that only them can deliver. While others think that Xing Fei should have used her original voice, I quite disagree. Her diction, pronunciation and line delivery are not suitable for historical dramas, this is also another thing that she needs to work on in the future. The other female villains also did excellent in making their characters alive and hateful. The only weakest acting is of ‘Lu Yun’ or Lu Anran’s brother. It was quite evident that he couldn’t keep up with the rest of the actors and looked like a rookie among all the rookies.

Music: Every sound effect, background music and opening/closing song is just perfect for every scene. The sound director deserves high remarks for his or her choices.

Rewatch Value: Lu Anran and Mu Chuan’s scenes are rewatchable. Their sincere love for each other is just so sweet to watch and it reminds me of a classic historical romance of Shakespeare.

Overall: 8.5-9 stars because it was a different drama from all I’ve watched(especially of Xing Fei’s) and their dialogues/lines are so good and profound. Each of them, even the side characters, has a quotable phrase or words of wisdom that will give you an awakening or reminder in life. It kinda made up for the bad CGI and not so good editing. Different angles show different emotions, and if the editing was lousy, it will take away the initial raw emotion they gave on the first scene and it will look unnatural on the next. Even so, thumbs up for the maze yet compact plot, amazing dialogues and effective acting of everyone.

Season 2 is unlikely to happen but I hope all of them can work again. Whether it’s costume or modern, i wish they will be given a higher budget next time. It’s such a waste that this kind of drama didn’t have enough money for post-production, it truly deserves more.

PS: Quite sad that there’s no EngSub for the epilogue, although someone explained the summary, I still wish I could watch it with subtitle.